Lettuce linked to E. coli outbreak 'possibly' grown in Yuma area

There's a "possibility" that romaine lettuce linked to a widespread E. coli outbreak could have come from the Yuma area, acknowledged a local agriculture agent.

"A potential location has been identified in Yuma," Kurt Nolte, Yuma County Cooperative Extension director and agriculture agent, said Friday.

However, as of late Friday afternoon, the Food and Drug and Administration had not confirmed that the lettuce was grown here, he said. "The investigation is ongoing."

While the lettuce may have been grown in the Yuma area, it appears that it was processed in the Midwest, Nolte said. "We don't know for sure where the contamination occurred — in the field, in the processing plant or while being transported."

Nolte explained that the date on the romaine lettuce that is being recalled because of the E. coli outbreak would indicate it was harvested in mid- to late April.

"That would be extremely on the outermost production time in Yuma," he said. "That's past our prime season. It becomes too hot."

The Yuma-area lettuce season winds down by the latter part of March most years and the season then transitions back to California for the summer, Nolte said.

According to The Associated Press, at least 20 people in Ohio, Michigan and New York — including 12 who have been hospitalized — have reported E. coli-related illnesses that may be linked to tainted romaine lettuce.

The lettuce was sold under the Freshway and Imperial Sysco brands and labeled for use by May 12 or earlier. It was sold for in-store salad bars and other food service outlets in Alabama, Connecticut, the District of Columbia, Florida, Georgia, Illinois, Indiana, Kansas, Kentucky, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, Missouri, New Jersey, New York, North Carolina, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, South Carolina, Tennessee, Virginia, West Virginia and Wisconsin.

Freshway Foods Vice president Devon Beer said the company worked with the Food and Drug Administration to trace the contaminated lettuce to a Yuma grower, whom he did not identify.

FDA spokesman Ira Allen would not confirm that the source was in Arizona, but said the investigation has focused on a farm.

‘‘Experience tells us that the point of contamination is likely at the farm level, which can then be spread during the entire processing chain,’’ Allen said.

Nolte stressed that a recall of romaine lettuce is voluntary and apparently only applies to product processed for the food service industry. "I understand it doesn't involve salad mixes sold in grocery stores."

He said that all Yuma-area growers adhere to the Leafy Green Marketing Agreement adopted in 2008 that established strict food safety guidelines for the production and processing of fresh vegetables.

"Local producers are very sensitive to food safety and work diligently to follow the guidelines," he said. "It's important to the industry across the nation to try its best to ensure food safety We have a program in place. This will be a real life way to test how effective those guidelines are."

The guidelines cover a variety of measures such as soil and water quality, auditing of food safety adherence and trace backs of produce to where it was grown and processed,  Nolte said.

New York authorities had been investigating an outbreak for several weeks. The New York state Public Health Laboratory discovered the contamination in a bag of Freshway Foods shredded romaine lettuce on Wednesday.

The bag of lettuce came from a processing facility that was also linked to the illnesses, the FDA said. The agency would not disclose the name of that facility.

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Joyce Lobeck can be reached at jlobeck@yumasun.com or 539-6853. The Associated Press contributed to this report.